sound, when a visiting troupe has brought
its own usually substandard sound equipment and has located 'loud speakers in impossible places.
If the actor instead of speaking two
feet from his microphone, stands ten feet
from it, the system gain has decreased
12db. If he now drops his voice 10db,
which is common on the stage at times,
there is little chance that listeners will hear
well enough to suit them. Obviously, the
actor can talk ten to fifteen feet from the
mike only if he projects. If soft dialogue is
frequent, the source of sound must be closer
to the mike.
Operators of sound systems are, in many
theatres, untrained stage hands or union
electricians. There are very few places where
the sound operator is qualified to do his job.
Most of them (we know from experience)
set eight or ten mikes on the stage, turn
up the system, and go out for a beer.
Sound is not that simple.
Each time th e number of microphones
in use doubles, the system gain before
feedback is cut in half, or three db. It obviously follows that the fewer mikes operated simultaneously, the better the stage
pick-up will be. One theatre found that
they could achieve much better pick-up with
three mikes across the stage apron on small
stands than with seven.
Section of the Fisher Theatre, Detroit.
There is a church committee in Fort
Worth, investigating why no one was able
to understand the sermon in any pew. They
were sure that the trouble was in the microphone. In actual fact, the problem was
having the loud speakers pointed at the
ceiling instead of at the people. A school
board knew for sure that their acoustical
troubl es were caused by the bending of
sound rays by air-conditioning currents. In
truth, they had just built a wall in front of
the loud speaker system because they did
not care to look at them.
An architect in designing a theatre, had
placed his speakers under the seats, thereby
giving the audience salvation by injection
but not understandable speech. The sound
system operator in a certain theatre complained that nobody could hear the show.
He had neglected to turn the main power
switch on.
To understand the problems that the
sound system in a theatre must face, considerthat ours is the age of high sound levels. The young have their rock music at
devastating levels, exceeding workmen's
compensation criteria. TVand hi-fi are played
loud in most homes. Taverns and clubs
often have loud music levels. From these
backgrounds, we fi nd that people expect
louder sound in public places of entertainment than they formerly did.
ment is located near the stage or the seating area, making it difficult to hear above
all the noise. Audiences are noisier nowadays. Perhaps people are saturated with entertainment at their work, at home, and on
airplanes and everywhere else. Community
noise is increasing.
Suppose we have installed a contemporary sound system in a theatre and have, by
fine equalization, delivered a system gain
before feedback of 25db, with the actor at
two feet from the microphone. It will make
up for most of the audience noise.
If the part calls for the actor to lisp, or
to use a brogue or dialect, some listeners
will complain that they did not understand
what the actor said. They will blame the
sound man. Moreover, the actor, obviously,
will not stay within 2 feet of his microphone. The stage manager does not want
microphones to be seen, and will hand them
high up out of sight or bury them in the
stage floor. A great deal of time will be
spent by stage hands setting the stage,
directing the stage lighting, and arranging
the props. Often only minutes will be spent
in microphone placement, or in a conference
between the sound manager and the stage
manager.
Air-conditioning systems work well, heating and cooling the patrons of theatres.
Often mechanical temperature control equip-
Sound, as a rule, is of minimal importance to producers of plays and to stage
managers. It is, however, a vehicle for complaint on the part of the press, backers,
and board members. Often the acoustician
who designed the theatre is blamed for poor
@ITCl THEATER DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY
OCTOBER,1970
A sound system, after it is fully equalized
so that it reaches its maximum theoretical
system gain, serves one primary function.
It removes acoustically the listener's head
and ears, and sets them at the mike position, leaving his posterior in the seat.
The operator of a sound system in a
theatre must be a fully trained competent
person, who knows the particular show involved. He must mix his microphones very
carefully, keeping on only those which are
in use. He must know the capabilities of
the system and its limitations.
This problem of operation is a serious
one. If it cannot be solved, the sound reinforcing system in a theatre, insofar as
providing ampl ified sound for the audience
to hear without strain, is a failure. In such
a case all program material can be better
accomplished by having the dialogue prerecorded on tape and played back through
an eHect system, with the actors pantomiming their lines on the stage. This would
be too bad, but we may be coming to it.
It is possi bl e in some theatres with detailed equalization to set one mike on a
stand at the stage apron location and turn
it up to a threshold feedback. The actor is
then able to be fifteen feet from that mike,
and still be heard well. At present, all system gain, for feedback specifications are
written by consultants and sound contractors
based on one mike. They don't set this out.
It is read into the specs by testers.
11

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